Celebrating Country Life & Ladies Shooting

Shooting the ICTSF World Sporting Championships

Well what can I say, those of you that know or have read about this competition know how insanely difficult it was. There were many who did not come back for the second course the next day but not my crazy squad! Us ladies went, had fun, destroyed some clays and came away with a pin badge and some amazing stories. Hey it was The Worlds, of course it was going to be hard!

When I signed up to the competition all those months ago I never realised just how big a deal it was. It was only when my instructor pointed out to me, during a lesson the week before, just how major it is. So when I made the three hour journey to Kelmarsh Hall I was feeling those nerves kick in.

I had an epic squad for the day; what was supposed to be an all girl team ended up with one male gate crasher! He booked on last minute when one of our ladies had to drop out and I really don’t think he knew what he had let himself in for. After getting the hump on a few stand when some of us LADIES beat him, he soon chilled out and realised we were all about the fun and not winning, and he became an honouree lady for the day!

As usual we made a bit of a stir. We had a fair few stares and the photographer was certainly excited to meet and photograph the all lady squad, bar our new friend of course!

The shooting itself was the most difficult I had experienced. A few times I wanted to cry when I scratched yet another stand; however I gave myself a talking too, had a few drinks and came back fighting the next day. And boy was I glad I did! My first stand on the new course I straighted and not even George Digweed couldn’t say he did that on this particular stand! That really made my day and the rest of the course was more of a success; I scored 13 more than the day before!!!!

However, I did leave the competition feeling rather deflated as my scores were nowhere near my usual standard. But sitting here and writing this now has made me realise I should be proud of myself for even entering in the first place. To take part in such a major competition against some of the greatest shooters I have ever seen really is an achievement. I may not have won but I think just by turning up, doing my best, not getting angry when things don’t go my way and holding my head high in defeat really does go a long way in showing what a fantastic sport this is! And I hope it encourages other young women to pick up a gun and take part. What used to be a largely male dominated sport is slowly becoming popular with women and one day an all female squad won’t even cause a single stare. Push yourself and don’t be afraid to exceed your limits!